THE FRIENDLY ARCTIC 665 



Storkerson strict orders that he must not through the extensiveness 

 of his spring explorations delay the sailing of the Bear, telling him 

 that the ship would start as soon as navigation conditions allowed. 

 Later when he got to Kellett he had inspected the Sachs, found her 

 unsound, and had on the recommendation of his officers decided to 

 destroy her. .His crew also was inadequate for handling the Bear 

 and he needed Castel's men aboard. In explanation of why he 

 had chopped out the mast and put the ship on the beach he said 

 that his galley stove had been short of fuel, that the Sachs was 

 no good, anyhow, and that he did not have the time — an hour or 

 two — to tow the Sachs into Baur Harbor. Furthermore, he con- 

 sidered that Binder and Masik would have things more important 

 to do than to keep pumping the ship to keep her afloat. 



Captain Gonzales gave me the names of four of his officers with 

 whom he said he had consulted and who had recommended the de- 

 struction of the Sachs. Three of these men denied the story en- 

 tirely but the fourth said that he had recommended leaving the 

 Sachs, meaning, however, not her destruction but that she should 

 be towed to Baur Harbor and anchored there in charge of the 

 two who were being left behind. As I have mentioned, the sugges- 

 tion of this officer would have met with my approval. I should 

 have liked nothing better on arriving at Kellett than to find the 

 Bear safely on her way and the Sachs waiting for us with an ade- 

 quate crew, Castel, Andersen, Binder and Masik. Even with just 

 Binder and Masik we should have been all right, for the Sachs 

 was no more difficult to sail than the Challenge, needing no larger 

 crew. 



The engineer of the Bear, Herman Kilian, stated that he had 

 told Captain Gonzales that the engines of the Sachs were not in good 

 condition. He had not, however, recommended the destruction 

 of the ship. The condition of the engines was in a sense not very 

 material. It is a great convenience to have power, but during two 

 or three decades of whaling many a sailing ship has gone from 

 Kellett safely to the Pacific without the use of engines. Indeed, 

 this entire part of the Arctic, so far as it was explored before our 

 time, is known to us almost solely through the work of men who 

 came up in sailing ships which usually brought them safe home 

 again. 



I now took personal charge of the Bear, transferring Castel to 

 the command of the Challenge. After some delays and troubles 

 with the ice, both ships proceeded to the harbor at Cape Bathurst 



